( 31 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 3 2009
Previously I had a no-name cheapo player from a department store. Even though it had issues with the headphone jack and pooped out a bit too easily I still prefer it to this. After all, for the same price as this Sony I could have bought 3 more of those. On this model all of the buttons and the info screen are on the side. Seems that would make it convenient to just look down and press. However, the text and the buttons are the same color as the case, making them hard to see, and the buttons are tiny with little variation in shape. Additionally, some buttons are multi functional, so you have to press quickly or hold a button to get it to do what you want. Then strain your eyes to see if the appropriate tiny indicator is on the tiny screen. Take for example the 'repeat' function. On my previous player I simply pushed a button clearly labeled 'repeat'. EZ. On this thing I have to find the tiny 'P-mode' button, cycle through normal, single, shuffle and bookmark icons until the arrow is displayed and finally, if I dont miss the tiny picture in the screen and have to do it all over, I get to repeat the song. Ridiculous! Rather than being able to program in a few tracks and hit play, I must cycle that P-mode again until the 'bookmark' icon shows up. Then one at a time bookmark the tracks I want, cycle through the P-mode button again until a tiny icon flashes in the tiny screen, then press 'play'. Of course, it doesnt save what you programmed so you have to do it again everytime you put in that CD. Ridiculous! But wait there's more stupidity. The battery compartment is not on the back it is under the lid! So you have to remove the CD to get to a tiny door underneath. Naturally, this tiny door is not in the most open part of the player but in the tightest part just under the hinges! This is such a tight squeeze I am fighting the urge to rip the player lid off just to give my knuckles room to grab the batteries. Meanwhile, I am fighting with the tiny battery door because, of course, it wont stay open. On the plus side, it doesnt eat batteries too quickly, it doesnt skip from movement while I'm shoveling in the yard. I avoid those tiny earbud things and use my own Koss over the ear headphones so the sound is descent, and there is a tiny button labeled AVLS- automatic volume something - this is their fancy term for bass boost which works quite well. Overall, I miss my cheapo player with its big screen on top of the lid, and large clearly labeled buttons. This Sony is frustrating and I wish Amazon offered more choices for CD Walkmans. I'm glad I have it, because I want music on the go, but I wish I had something else.
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 16 2009
Pros: - Cheap (was! at $34; price went up since: no longer cheap) - Fairly sturdy - Adequately functional - Easy to use - Acceptable battery life (couple of days, ~ a dozen CDs). Cons: 1. Dull, muddy sound. Come to think of it, the same more or less can be said about every other Sony piece I've had. It can be somewhat alleviated by replacing earplugs (toss the earplugs that come with this piece w/o even trying: I had old Philips earplugs laying around -- nothing hi-fi, mind you -- and they improved the sound by an order of magnitude; earplugs that come bundled with this Walman are an abomination, maybe good for AM radio but no more than that; what they do with music isn't even funny). 2. Power supply: the manual demands that you use a particular kind -- Sony AC-E45HG -- and nothing else; this particular device isn't sold in the US! A brilliant business move, I say. I had to buy another, similar power supply (Sony AC-E45A) that, strictly speaking, is not recommended as it produces loud hum on AM (though otherwise it works fine, so far at least). I don't care for AM so this is an acceptable compromise, but come on, difficulty getting a power supply in this day and age? Btw, I have about five billion power supplies in my house, many of them with the correct voltage, but none of them fits this Walkman's socket, with or without a polarity switching adapter (I have a pile of those too), so they want you to buy one more power supply -- from them. Add $20 to the cost of this player -- oops, not so cheap anymore. Bottomline: does the job, OK purchase, not great.
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Posted: Jul 14 2009
First let me say I have owned Sony Walkman devices from their beginning. I have been a big supporter of Sony electronics products and their customer service. I own a lot of their equipment and it has been good. I purchased this CD player with AM/FM radio and it is exactly what I wanted. It is a nice unit. I have only had it a little over a week and I haven't used it much because I have no way to carry it. It is the first Walkman product I ever owned that provides no way to carry it. After all, it is a Walkman and I wanted it for my use while walking. Some of my clothing has pockets large enough to hold this player but most do not and besides, it is very difficult to operate when it is in a pocket. I rechecked the Amazon description to see if I missed a bit of info about how to carry it or if a carrier was listed as an accessory. No. I searched around on Amazon and found a list of Sony brand carry cases so I picked out one that was moderately priced, not the cheapest one, and ordered it. It was shipped promptly from an Amazon Market Place seller and I recieved it yesterday only to find it was too small to fit my Sony D-FJ041. I can return the case but the vendor does not have another case for exchange and after shipping both ways and a small restocking fee it does not really make sense. Since I like this player, I decided to call Sony directly and see if they could furnish a correct carry case or give me the part number of one that would fit my player. Well, Sony as we know is a huge company and I talked to a number of folks there and the long story short, they don't have a case to fit this player and no suggestion about what to do. They said it was an "older unit and no case was available". I said, "You folks are selling it right now on the SonyStyle website". Their response was "I am sorry for the inconvience sir". This is not what I have come to expect from SonySony Portable Walkman CD Player with FM / AM Tuner (Model# D-FJ041). As I said I am a long time loyal customer of Sony and have always had good results from their products until now. I will probably just keep this player and see if I can cobble up this carry case I have to see if I can make it work somehow. Finally, I think Amazon has failed here in not advising that the device has no means to carry it and Sony should be ashamed to do this to their customers. They let me down. I will be very cautious about buying Sony in the future.
